


Bonds Severed & Mended

by TwilaFrost



Series: Living Tattoo Soulmate AU [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Atsumu Just Wants Love, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Language, Minor Miya Osamu/Suna Rintarou, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:52:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26954650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilaFrost/pseuds/TwilaFrost
Summary: “Why’s everyone else’s a fox and mine is… well I don’t know what he is.”His brother looks over at the creature again, “Yeah, no idea. Got some huge ass teeth, though."Life just isn't fair to Atsumu, who only wants to love and cherish his soulmate. Now if only he can find them.---Now with a Russian Translation! Link in author's notes.
Relationships: Miya Atsumu/Sakusa Kiyoomi
Series: Living Tattoo Soulmate AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1966984
Comments: 52
Kudos: 674
Collections: SakuAtsu Fics, ~SakuAtsu~





	Bonds Severed & Mended

**Author's Note:**

> Russian translation by Patkinson on ficbook find it [Here](https://ficbook.net/readfic/10282789/26459412)
> 
> ***Explanation of Soulmarks***  
> In this world, everyone has a soulmate. On the elder of the pair’s sixteenth birthday, they manifest an animal that represents their soulmate on either arm. This “tattoo” however, is unlike any other phenomena. It is like a living, 2D moving picture on a person’s skin. It has a colored aura depending on the person’s strong emotions and feelings, changes facial expressions, and reacts with the world around it though not physically. For example, it can “hear” and “see” and therefore interact via movements on the skin. They live only on the appendage they appear on and can move along it.

On October fourth, Atsumu and Osamu stay up until the clock hits 12:00 am October fifth. It’s the day they turn sixteen years old and will receive their soulmarks. Osamu says he doesn’t care, but here he is staying up with Atsumu to watch them appear. They each sit on their respective beds in their shared room, glancing from the clock to their arms. Only one more minute left. 

Atsumu watches as a pearlescent blob manifests. It begins to shimmer and mold into a shape and come to life with color. Finally, the newly formed animal sniffs around. Atsumu’s smile might split his face. It- It’s so cute! He has no idea what it is, but it’s cute! It walks on four legs and has thick dark brown fur with black markings and black legs and snout. 

He rushes over to flop on Osamu’s bed.

“Look! ‘Samu, look!” As he points to the creature on his left arm, it finally looks at him and bares it’s huge teeth. Holy crap! “Oh he’s feisty!” 

“I already feel bad for who that belongs to,” Osamu says in regards to Atsumu’s soulmate. 

“Lemme see yers!” He grabs his brother’s arm only to scowl at it. “Ya’ve gotten be fuckin’ kiddin’ me. That’s literally Sunarin in fox form!”

On his brother’s left arm is a weird ass looking fox with a round head and the most bored, judging ass yellow-grey eyes. It also has a weird thick, grey stripe on either side of its body. 

“Ya really think so?” Osamu asks with a dreamy, hopeful look. Oh, gross. 

“Do ya not see those eyes?!” He points at the fox who has now flopped over to sleep. “And look at his lazy ass!”

Osamu smiles fondly at the fox, “Guess I’ll find out for sure tomorrow. Any idea who yers is?”

“No,” he sulks. “Why’s everyone else’s a fox and mine is… well I don’t know what he is.”

His brother looks over at the creature again, “Yeah, no idea. Got some huge ass teeth, though. Maybe someone on the team will know.”

So the brothers go to bed, each waiting for school for different reasons. Before Atsumu falls asleep, he decides on the name Masaru for his feisty little soulmark. 

Before morning practice, the twins see Suna waiting for them with his usual bored expression, although he’s fidgeting slightly. Atsumu smirks. That’s right, Suna would have woken up today with his mark. He knows today is their birthday, but he doesn’t know who his mark belongs to for sure. 

“Sunarin! My lifelong love!” Atsumu runs towards the other teen with his arms open.

Suna’s eyes widen in a very brief moment of panic. However, before he can embrace him, Osamu shoves Atsumu to the side, hard. He stumbles and tries not to fall flat on his ass.

“Damn it ‘Samu, why’d ya have ta ruin it? His face was priceless!” Atsumu doubles over in laughter. 

“So it’s not you?” Suna asks.

“No, it’s me.” Osamu pulls up his sleeve to show him the fox. 

“Oh thank everything that is holy.” Suna pulls up his own sleeve to reveal a beautiful black and silver fox. 

Atsumu picks himself back up and pouts. “Hey! Are ya sayin’ ya didn’t want me?”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Suna deadpans. 

Rude. He’s a catch. 

“By the way, do ya know what this is Sunarin?” Atsumu shows off his own animal. Masaru positively glares at him. What a little bitch. 

Suna gives it a once over, “Nice giant ferret-bear.”

Atsumu scoffs and walks away to get ready for practice while throwing the two chuckling assholes the bird behind him. 

Once he’s in the locker room, he looks at Masaru again. Suna actually wasn’t completely wrong in his assessment, but he knows that’s not what it’s called. 

“Yer not a giant ferret, right?” He asks the creature. In return, he bares his teeth. “Didn’t think so.” 

However, he’s desperate; so he types it into his phone to do a quick search. Nothing. Just regular ferrets photo-shopped. 

Walking in the gym, he sees Akagi. Maybe he knows? Atsumu heads over to find out.

“Oh, that’s a wolverine!” Akagi says looking at Atsumu’s extended arm. “They’re pretty cool. Good luck on finding who it is!”

A wolverine, eh? Like the X-Men dude? Well, time to research wolverines. 

Once he’s home from practice that evening, Atsumu gets straight down to business. He writes everything he finds potentially relevant in a notebook and tries to figure out how it could correlate into a human personality.

_Wolverine → Soulmate ❤  
Largest member of the weasel family → tall?  
Scavengers → ??? good at finding things???  
Good sense of smell → sensitive to smells?  
Form lifelong relationships → loyal, faithful  
Solitary → introvert  
Territorial → like their privacy  
Good parents → self explanatory?  
Use snow as refrigerator → smart, resourceful  
~~Gross scent gland → ???~~  
Ferocious → scary? Mean?  
Dense fur → nice hair?  
Bluff their hostility → mean on the outside soft on the inside?  
Will FITE you → doesn’t take shit from people?_

His list isn’t very long, and he doesn’t know anyone who fits all these personality traits. Is he even doing this right? With a sigh he looks at Masaru who almost looks like he’s reading what Atsumu wrote. 

“Can ya give me a hint Saru?” The wolverine turns its head, giving him a blank expression. “Yer so mean, and I haven’t even had ya for 24 hours yet. Is it ‘cause yer counterpart is real irritable? I see that yellow aura ya got goin’ there.” 

Yellow can mean a few things, but it’s typically negative. With how Masaru acts, his soulmate must feel tense or anxious a lot. Atsumu wishes he could give them a big hug and take some of their burdens. Atsumu has always daydreamed about meeting his soulmate. Call him a hopeless romantic if you must, but who doesn’t wish to find the person meant just for them?

However, until he finds them he’ll just have Masaru to keep him company. Though the wolverine appears to want to be anywhere else. Atsumu will get this little guy to like him, he just has to figure out how. 

A year passes and Atsumu is no closer to finding his soulmate. It’s hard to not be jealous of Osamu and Suna. They look so happy together. Life just isn’t fair. Atsumu is the one that always talked about finding his soulmate! Osamu always seemed indifferent (Atsumu knows his brother was not indifferent really, he just wants to be petty). He just wants the person who will love him unconditionally, someone who will hold him when he’s insecure. Flopping back on his bed, he lets out a sigh. Is that so much to ask?

He’s even made another list just for Masaru’s traits and adds to it when he thinks of something else.

_Masaru  
Cranky, prickly  
Mean (sort of)  
Hates when things get on my arm  
Gets antsy in large crowds  
Irritable  
Likes showers  
Dislikes being touched (sometimes he likes head pats)  
Is adorable when he glares  
Actually a softie_

Atsumu feels like it could still be literally anyone. 

His soulmate better be freaking amazing for all this trouble. “Ya better be connected ta someone perfect,” he points at Masaru who raises his nonexistent furry eyebrow. What a jerk. 

It’s when he attends the All-Japan training camp in his second year that he first feels the pull. Masaru perches up on his two hind legs and sniffs with his adorable little nose. Is Atsumu’s soulmate here? 

Once inside, he takes a quick scan around. No one pops out at him immediately, except for the guy standing in the corner by himself. Oh, that’s Sakusa Kiyoomi. One of Japan’s Top 3 Aces. Inarizaki played against Itachiyama at Interhigh this year. 

Then he wonders… Itachiyama… weasels. That’s too obvious, right? But then again, a lot of his teammates brandish foxes as their own soulmarks. He really wants to know if Sakusa has a fox on his arm. 

Masaru is prowling up and down the length of his arm, glowing a very vivid yellow. Atsumu frowns at that. His soulmate must be really nervous about something. 

“Hey, chill out wouldja? It’s alright,” he pats Masaru’s head with his index finger. It helps calm him down a bit, though his aura is still very present.

He’s never actually talked to Sakusa before. He’s heard a few things about him, though. Like that he’s aloof and a germaphobe. Looking at him in the corner, he seems really detached from everyone. Atsumu decides to go talk to the spiker, for research purposes. 

“What do ya say, Saru? Wanna go investigate?” Masaru sits on his haunches and opens his mouth slightly. Good enough for him. 

As Atsumu walks towards the lone teen, said person shoots him an icy glare, as if he’s trying to will his existence away. Atsumu is already immune to that glare, thank you very much. His smile widens instead. It has to be him. He can just ask to see, right?

“Hey there, Sakusa Kiyoomi, right? I’m Miya Atsumu. Now I know this is rude, but do ya happen ta have a fox soulmark?” He just word vomits everything out. Well, nothing he can do about it now.

Sakusa’s expression pinches between his eyebrows. He shuffles away a bit before answering, “No, I don’t.”

Atsumu’s expression falls. He really thought that he was the one. “Oh. Sorry for botherin’ ya then.” He slinks off to find someone who actually wants to be sociable. 

Masaru runs around in a circle emitting a grey aura. “What? Yer confused now? Me too, Bud. Thanks for tryin’ ta cheer me up, though.” 

At the camp he meets Kageyama Tobio, a rising talent. The teen has already met his soulmate, and he’s not even sixteen yet! Life really just isn’t fair. Lots of people ask what kind of animal Masaru is, to which he proudly shows him off. They all get a great view of his teeth. What a cutie. 

The pull still doesn’t go away. Masaru always seems to perk up when Sakusa is around, but he’s already established that it’s not him. Plus he always wears a compression sleeve on his right arm, so he can’t even see what animal he does have. The thought that he’s lying crosses his mind more than once. Or maybe, Atsumu’s animal isn’t a fox? But then what would it be? 

On the last day, Atsumu decides to approach Sakusa one more time right before he leaves. The blonde just can’t let it go. He sees the teen standing by himself against the wall, scrolling through his phone. Perfect. Setting his bags to the side, he walks over.

“Omi-kun!” 

Sakusa looks up with a scornful glare, “What do you want, Miya?”

“Can I see it?”

“What?” 

“Your soulmark,” he unconsciously strokes his left forearm where Masaru is. 

“Why?” Sakusa glances down at the wolverine, “Just because you flash yours around doesn’t mean that everyone wants to.”

“Saru doesn’t really like bein’ forcibly covered.”

Sakusa furrows his brows, “It’s not like it can actually do anything to you.”

“But he has feelin’s ya know! Just ‘cause he can’t interact with the physical world doesn’t mean he doesn’t interact with me and the bond we have. I’ve learned a lot from him, ya know?” The teen in front of him looks stricken for a moment. “Don’t tell me that ya just completely disregard yers.” The silence is enough of an answer for him. “Ya know what? Never mind. I don’t wanna know if yer my soulmate or not. Have a great life Sakusa.” 

Atsumu turns and walks away from the taller teen. He doesn’t look back. He manages to grab his things and vacate the premise before the tears start falling. God it hurts. It’s said that the way a person treats their soulmark is a reflection of how they’ll treat their soulmate. Maybe that’s just talk, but Atsumu really believes it. Just thinking about whatever poor animal Sakusa keeps locked away makes his heart ache. Even though he knows deep down that it’s his, he can’t bring himself to acknowledge it out loud.

When he takes his seat on the train, the tears grow into sobs. Masaru walks up his forearm as far as he can and puts his head on Atsumu’s hand. He’s giving off a dark blue aura. Atsumu tries not to think about it, but gives the animal a few strokes with his index and middle fingers. A few people give him sympathetic looks. God this is awful. It’s so embarrassing. Sakusa rejected him without even knowing him. He hopes the bastard regrets it.

When he arrives back home, Osamu immediately knows something’s wrong. Atsumu cries on his shoulder as he tells his twin what happened. 

“Ya deserve better anyway. No one like that could keep up with all the attention ya need. And who knows, maybe it’s not him after all.” 

Osamu’s words manage to help him feel somewhat better. However, the painful sensation in his chest still doesn’t dissipate. Was he wrong to walk away? Was he too brash? Either way, the wound is too fresh. Atsumu doesn’t want to see the curly haired teen again for a while.

Unfortunately, the next day he has to turn around and return to Tokyo. This time it’s with the team for Nationals. He’ll leave it all on the court. 

And that’s what he does for the next five years. Atsumu lives and breathes volleyball. He doesn’t need anyone other than his friends and family. And Masaru of course. He loves that little demon. They get along great now. Ever since _the incident_ Masaru has been a little less prickly. He still has his moments of course. Like when Atsumu purposefully fucks with him. He’s an expert at the “I’m not touching you” game. 

The wolverine still emits mainly yellow, orange, and brown auras; but blues are common late at night. It seems his soulmate is thinking about something that makes them really sad. Atsumu thinks he’s only seen positive greens and blues a handful of times. Even if it is Sakusa, he honestly doesn’t want him to suffer. In a way, Atsumu can’t help but to love him. He’s his soulmate. But it’s obvious that he’s not wanted. Sakusa would have at least tried to contact him by now. Atsumu isn’t hard to find. 

By now, Atsumu thinks that he’s healed his heartache. But when his mind slips and thinks of Sakusa, it comes rushing back. Is Atsumu just unloveable? Is that why Sakusa doesn’t want him? Even though he’s supposed to be the perfect match, it seems the two of them have very different takes on soulmarks. He could never treat Masaru like an insignificant _thing_. 

In early April, Coach Foster announces that they’ve recruited a new player from the collegiate league. When Sakusa Kiyoomi walks over when Coach introduces him, Atsumu’s mind goes blank. His first thought is: Why?

Why now after all these years is he here? On Atsumu’s team. Why? He’s frozen in place, as he takes in the man in front of him. In particular, he can’t take his eyes off of the Shiba Inu that runs openly around Sakusa’s forearm. The dog that has its mouth wide open with its tongue hanging out like it's giving a giant grin. And Atsumu knows. 

After that, he doesn’t hear a word of what their coach says. The Shiba is looking at him, giving him a stupidly cute smirk. When he feels the pull again, he snaps his head up. Sakusa is staring at him. His black eyes shine with something hidden in their depths. 

When Coach dismisses them, Atsumu makes a break for the locker room. He knows Masaru is probably trying to claw at him in displeasure, but Atsumu can’t do this right now. The ache in his chest is bleeding again. He throws his warm up sweats over his practice clothes, foregoing changing and showering in favor of leaving as quickly as possible. Bokuto yells after him in concern, but Atsumu is already out the door. 

Atsumu doesn’t make it far before someone grabs his arm. 

“Atsumu, please, I need to talk to you.” He hasn’t heard that voice in five years, but he knows who it belongs to. 

Slowly, he turns to face the other man. “So talk.”

Sakusa glances at the Shiba Inu and holds his right arm out for Atsumu to see better. “This is Akihiko. He’s my soulmark. I woke up with him on October 5, 2011. He’s annoying, hyper, can’t keep his damn tongue in his mouth, and always seems like he’s up to something. His smile is contagious and his emotions are sometimes all over the place, but I love him anyway. 

“Over the years, he’s taught me more than I ever would have thought. The person he represents once told me something when I was 16 that I’ll never forget. It changed my entire outlook and thus changed my life. Akihiko changed my life. My soulmate changed my life, and I’ve watched him from a distance for 5 years. He’s thrived in his career, and he’s so, so beautiful. I’ve wanted to reach out to him, but I needed to improve myself first. I needed to be better to deserve him. Akihiko has taught me that maybe I’m ready now. So please, Atsumu, let me love you like I should have all those years ago.”

Atsumu is crying. Tears stream silently down his face even now when Sakusa is waiting for a reply. He wipes his eyes and looks up at the man before him. The man who looks at him with affection and warmth. Atsumu wants it. He wants it all.

“Okay,” he whispers. 

Sakusa embraces Atsumu tightly. He rests his head on the spiker’s shoulder and wraps his arms around his waist. 

“I’m sorry for how I acted back then. I promise I’ve learned to be better,” Sakusa whispers into his temple. Atsumu nods. Too emotionally exhausted to say much else. “Now I don’t really want to ruin the moment, but you’re kind of gross right now.”

Somehow the setter finds the energy to laugh and pull away from the other’s warm embrace. “Walk with me, Omi-Omi?” He sticks his hand out for Sakusa to grab.

Taking Atsumu’s hand he says, “Of course. And also I’ve been wondering. What the hell kind of animal is that?”

Masaru blankly stares at Sakusa and kneads his front feet in annoyance. Atsumu can’t stop laughing the entire way back to his apartment.

**Author's Note:**

> Masaru (Atsumu's Wolverine), Riku (Osamu's Tibetan Sand Fox), Genji (Suna's Silver Fox), Akihiko (Sakusa's Shiba Inu)  
> 


End file.
